WASHINGTON – The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) stands with 156 U.S. Representatives and 25 U.S. Senators in their quest to bring commonsense to Washington, D.C., and relief to rural America by encouraging Environmental Protection Agency Administrator (EPA) Lisa Jackson to implement a waiver to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Last week, more than 150 representatives signed a letter to Administrator Jackson and today more than 20 senators did the same. The letters went to Administrator Jackson because EPA was granted the authority in the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which set the initial RFS, and in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, which expanded the fuels standard, to waive the RFS because of severe economic or environmental harm.
In the House, the letter was a bipartisan effort led by Congressmen Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.); Jim Matheson (D-Utah); Steve Womack (R-Ark.); and Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.).
“The RFS mandate has created a domino effect. Tightening supplies have already driven up the price of corn, and the extreme weather being experienced by much of the nation will only further increase prices. I am pleased that my colleagues in the Senate have joined me and 155 other Members of the House of Representatives in urging EPA Administrator Jackson to act now to make a critical reduction in the RFS for 2012,” said Rep. Goodlatte. “We should not be in a position where we are choosing between fuel and feed for our livestock.”
NCBA President J.D. Alexander said his organization supports American ethanol. Alexander, who is a cattleman from Nebraska, said corn-based ethanol has done a lot to stabilize many rural communities in his state and yields a co-product, dried distillers’ grains, which many cattlemen use as a feed ingredient. Alexander, like many of the members of Congress urging EPA to issue the waiver, is seeking a level playing field for cattlemen to compete “head-to-head” for a bushel of corn in one of the worst droughts in the nation’s history. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, roughly 70 percent of cattle producing regions are suffering from drought conditions.
“We find it concerning that these mandates are allowed to continue today in the worst drought I have seen in my lifetime. Seventy percent of cattle country is under drought conditions – this is not isolated to a certain part of the country. One has to wonder how bad the drought has to get before EPA uses its authority to grant a RFS waiver,” said Alexander. “This isn’t rocket science. Let the market work.”
The Senate letter was also a bipartisan effort led by Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.).
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